that's obviously not a great environment to move things along. the optimists on both sides think we're going to get a deal, not by christmas, but by new year's. if you ask people, what's the next step? what gets things moving? it's still complicated, and nobody has a consensus on that. the biggest challenge is how you strike a deal this year that has some things left undone for next year. and there's all sorts of people thinking about different kinds of triggers, different kind of things that say, well, if congress doesn't do x, then y kicks in, but there's no agreement on what those need to be. there's going to be more revenue, but things like entitlement reform, tax reform, those things are still very unsettled. >> so senator tom coburn yesterday on "morning joe" became the latest to break rank, saying he could support president obama's tax proposal. coburn joins a growing chorus of republicans from outside the house of representatives, urging house leadership to clear the way for a broad deal that would include tax increases on the wealthy. ho